Hearing a petition that challenged the cancellation of Tiruvarur byelection, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday sought the communication made by Election Commission to the Centre following the rescinding of notification.
The constituency fell vacant following the death of DMK patriarch and former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi.
The court was hearing a public interest litigation petition filed by Vedha Dhamodharan of Madurai who challenged the cancellation of the byelection. He said the cancellation of notification went against the Representation of the People Act, 1951. Under Section 151 A of the Act, the time limit for filling such vacancies was six months. However, the Section would not apply if the remainder of the term of a member in relation to a vacancy is less than one year or if the Election Commission in consultation with the Central government certifies that it is difficult to hold the byelection within the said period, he said.
The Election Commission had no power to order the cancellation of a byelection notification without consulting the Centre. However, only after the rescinding notification was issued, the Centre was consulted, he added.
A Division Bench of Justices N. Kirubakaran and S.S. Sundar observed that only after looking into the communication could the present case proceed.
To ascertain the same, the court ordered the Election Commission to file its counter within two weeks.
Further, the court observed that if the consultation was made after the notification was rescinded, the consultation itself was redundant.
The rescinding of the notification, if accepted, would set a bad precedent.
The case was adjourned for further hearing by two weeks.